Interacting Boundaries - Call for Scores | 2026 - Flute and audience interaction

Interacting Boundaries - Call for Scores | 2026 - Flute and audience interaction

Abstract

In the contemporary landscape, interactive and participatory technologies play an increasingly central role, profoundly influencing the ways in which cultural content is related, communicated and enjoyed.

This is the context for the Call for Scores “Interacting Boundaries”, which is linked to a research project being conducted by flutist Davide Baldo and promoted by the Piazza del Mondo Cultural Association (www.piazzadelmondo.it).

Interacting Boundaries aims to be a tool for investigation and production, designed to expand the existing repertoire for flute and stimulate critical reflection on the role of the audience within the performance. Through the creation of new scores, the Call proposes to explore in a concrete way how instrumental practice linked to notated musical material can be integrated with the participatory and interactive dimension of the audience through the use of technological devices and environments. The aim is to investigate new configurations of the relationship between musical writing, performance and audience participation, redefining the traditional boundaries between performer, composer and listener.

Objectives of the Call

The Call for Scores aims to:

• stimulate critical reflection on the changes taking place in the contemporary music scene, with particular reference to the roles of the subjects (artists – in the form of performers and composers – and the audience) involved in the aesthetic act;
• investigate ways of involving the audience in contemporary written music, through the use of participatory and interactive technology, in light of the social, technological and cultural transformations of the present;
• to explore the scope of investigation opened up by the use of interactive technologies applied to a notated instrumental repertoire;
• develop a new repertoire for flute, capable of integrating interactive technologies and reflecting on the concept of audience participation;

Criteria and types of contribution

Compositions for flute that involve the use of interactive and/or participatory technologies. A brief explanatory note is required to clarify the performance device and the role of the audience*.

Instrumentation

• Flute** (in the different sizes of the family: C flute, G flute, bass flute, piccolo)
• Interactive and/or participatory technologies***

How to participate and deadline

Participation by sending an email with information about the participant: personal details and contact information.

Attached to the email: score, explanatory materials deemed appropriate, curriculum vitae.

The selected scores will be integrated into the research project and performed in national and international contexts, with documentation of the performances.

All required materials must be sent by 30 May 2026 to the following email address: call@piazzadelmondo.it, writing in the subject line of the email: Interacting Boundaries.

Concert

The selected scores will be performed in at least one dedicated concert, including the planned forms of action/interaction/participation by the audience, expected to start in 2026.

Notes

* Direct consultation with Davide Baldo – who can be contacted at call@piazzadelmondo.it – is appreciated in order to coordinate the use of the technologies to be employed.

** It is also possible to compose for flute and another instrument, subject to justification in relation to the objectives of the Call. Prior consultation with the musician (call@piazzadelmondo.it) is also required in this case.

*** Possible avenues of investigation (indicative and non-exhaustive):

1. Personal devices of the audience (smartphones, tablets, PCs); customised web and touch interfaces; audience access, input and feedback systems; dedicated APIs and web platforms.
2. Digital and tangible musical interfaces (DMIs); physical and hybrid sound objects; motorised control elements and haptic/wearable systems; visual feedback.
3. Body and environment sensing systems (movement, posture, proximity, audio, vision, light);
4. Location- and space-based systems (GPS, environmental triggering, spatial audio); audio-visual virtual and augmented reality systems.